Widows

Dolly turned away from Shirley. Quite how Shirley had got through life so far was baffling, but then she’d always had Terry to look after her. Dolly sat down, lit another cigarette from the stub of the one she had on the go and threw it into the ashtray; her foot was now jerking up and down, twitching all the time.

The two sat in silence, the clock ticking away on the mantel. Shirley watched Dolly out of the corner of her eye. Her lips were moving, as if she was talking to herself. ‘What are we going to do Dolly? How can we lose two of them?’

‘Where in God’s name is your mother?’ Dolly was sick of having to have the answers to stupid questions.

Shirley moved to the window again. Bill was sitting on the bonnet of the BMW and Eddie was standing next to him. ‘What’s to stop them from coming into the house?’ Shirley asked. ‘What’s to stop them looking in the case and finding the money?’

Questions! Always questions! Dolly wanted to scream at Shirley. ‘Harry! Harry’s stopping them from coming into the house!’ Bill and Eddie must be under orders to watch and nothing more, otherwise they’d have come in by now. Course those orders could change in the blink of an eye but, right now, there was a stand-off.

Shirley was winding herself up. ‘Once they saw that money, they’d want the rest! They’d want it all. I can’t imagine what they’d do to get it.’

‘Don’t, then!’ Dolly shouted. ‘Don’t stand there imagining what might happen.’ Dolly took a breath. She had to calm Shirley down. ‘The money’s safe, love. They’ll never find it.’

‘But only you know where it is — and if anything happens to you, what then?’

Dolly closed her eyes and looked away from Shirley.

Shirley was getting herself into a state, ‘Why are they just watching? Why don’t they do something?’

‘Calm down.’

‘Calm down! How are you so calm? So cold? Stone cold. What aren’t you telling me?’ Dolly couldn’t believe that Shirley was choosing this moment to grow a pair of balls and turn into Linda. ‘Who’s that man with your Harry’s cousin? Another relative?’

‘My God,’ Dolly exclaimed. ‘Your brain’s working overtime all of a sudden, ain’t it?’

‘Well, you don’t seem scared by the fact that they could burst in here at any moment and kill us both! And that’s because you know they’re not going to, isn’t it? You know. How? You’ve got an arrangement, haven’t you?’ It hardly seemed possible, but Dolly’s face was becoming even more stern, her lips narrowing and her jaw twitching. Shirley was on a roll, fueled by fear. ‘You and Eddie got plans? Did I stop him from getting the money last time, did I? I’m feeling very outnumbered here, Dolly, and I want to know where the rest of the money is, right now!’

Dolly had her arms tightly folded so as not to slap Shirley’s stupid head right off her shoulders. But then Shirley opened her frantic mouth one more time. ‘If you’ve got Eddie lined up to step into your Harry’s shoes, I want my money first!’

Face twisting with uncontrollable anger, Dolly launched herself forward and slapped Shirley hard across the face. Shirley took it without flinching, and returned the slap so hard Dolly had to step back to stop herself from falling over.

‘What I just said about you and Eddie having an arrangement was out of order,’ Shirley said. ‘But I want to know where the money is, Dolly. I want to know for me, for Linda and for Bella.’

Dolly was at breaking point. She’d lost the will to argue or to defend her actions. If it all went wrong, she wanted to be the only one the police could possibly lean on for the money — but right now, she couldn’t give a damn.

‘The money’s at the convent,’ Dolly said. ‘There’s a row of new lockers in the kiddies’ playroom. The top four lockers, well out of reach, are covered with nursery rhyme posters. That’s where the money is. Four lockers, four bags, four equal shares. All ready for when it’s safe to come home.’ She sat on the sofa and opened her handbag. ‘I’ve got a key for each of you. When the time comes to collect, just mention my name.’ Dolly stood and looked Shirley square in the eyes as she handed her the keys one by one. ‘Here’s Linda’s key. And Bella’s. And yours.’ There was such disappointment in Dolly’s eyes, Shirley didn’t know what to say.

The silence was broken by the doorbell.

‘That’ll be Mum,’ Shirley whispered.

All they could do now was stick to the plan. They needed each other. Everything else would wait.

Eddie watched the woman, dressed in a tatty coat, boots and headscarf, standing on Dolly’s doorstep. When the door was opened and she was let in, Bill and Eddie looked at each other.

‘Maybe it’s the cleaner?’ Eddie speculated.

‘That’ll be it,’ Bill said sarcastically. ‘My cleaner starts at four in the morning as well. It could be one of the other women who done the robbery. I’m going to go tell Harry.’ He got into the BMW and drove off.

Eddie climbed back into the Granada and resumed his watch.